Medina said two cars' tires were slashed in her parking lot, and she
had received an anonymous call earlier in the day telling her to cancel
the event.
"They said this is not neutral ground," Medina said.
Over the past few months, at least a dozen people, not all of them gang
members, have been shot in suspected black vs. Latino gang violence. On
Saturday, four people were shot in two incidents.
[The Sith Lords are at work, and they do not want anyone disrupting
their Milosevic methods implementation campaign]
Lt. Alex Tortes, the Eastside area commander, said Monday morning,
"It's the wild, wild West out there."
[No, it's more like a Northern Ireland situation, except the combatants
will not be sophisticated enough to carry out a bombing campaign. He
won't realize it untill a few years though once they have National
Guard units set up a TOC in the area]
Please read Revelation 18, you fucking assholes.
===================================================================
Residents, officials trade frustrations
VIOLENCE: Riverside should do more, say Eastside neighbors. Police ask
for more cooperation.
01:18 AM PDT on Tuesday, August 9, 2005
By SARAH BURGE / The Press-Enterprise
RIVERSIDE - As city officials, police and more than 100 community
members gathered at an Eastside restaurant Monday night to discuss the
recent spate of gang violence, someone was in the parking lot slashing
tires.
Susan Medina, owner of Zacatecas Restaurant on University Avenue,
hosted the community meeting to discuss the shootings that have
terrorized the Eastside this summer. The Eastside Think Tank, a
grass-roots community organization, planned the event.
Medina said two cars' tires were slashed in her parking lot, and she
had received an anonymous call earlier in the day telling her to cancel
the event.
"They said this is not neutral ground," Medina said.
Over the past few months, at least a dozen people, not all of them gang
members, have been shot in suspected black vs. Latino gang violence. On
Saturday, four people were shot in two incidents.
A Nigerian man visiting from Oklahoma was in critical condition after
he was shot without provocation across the street from the restaurant,
police said.
At Monday's meeting, Mayor Ron Loveridge said, "Too often we've
gathered here with the same kind of anger. I'm not sure what thinking
out of the box is. But it's probably time to do that."
Loveridge and Deputy Chief Andy Pytlak assured the crowd that the
Police Department has a suppression effort in the works.
Pytlak acknowledged that the violence had risen to an unconscionable
level. He said the department has concentrated its patrols by uniformed
officers in the area. Such a high-visibility crackdown, he said, should
help to "keep gang members' heads down for a while."
Pytlak said the extra patrols will continue for at least a month.
"There are people on the Eastside who are even afraid to come out of
their doors," said Woodie Rucker-Hughes, president of the Riverside
branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People and a Think Tank member.
Another Think Tank member, Riverside Community College Trustee Mary
Figueroa, said, "It doesn't matter now whether you're involved in a
gang." What matters, Figueroa said, "is the color of our skin."
She and others at the meeting blasted city leaders for displaying
"selective outrage." Figueroa said the Wednesday shooting of an
11-year-old neighborhood girl caught in gang crossfire wasn't quite
enough to generate widespread anger. It took a tourist getting shot on
the Eastside to really get people's attention, Figueroa said.
"What I don't want to hear is 'the community needs to step up to the
plate,' " Figueroa said. "We do," she added, demanding more action from
the city.
Lifelong Eastside resident Valerie Silva said she wonders whether
there's really anything that residents can do.
"Do you get involved?" she asked. "Do you not get involved? Is it too
dangerous?"
Lt. Alex Tortes, the Eastside area commander, said Monday morning,
"It's the wild, wild West out there."
Tortes said the community will have to share information with police if
they want to catch the shooters.
"They're not people coming from outside the community," Tortes said.
"They're family members."
.
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